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Overview

The first book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which continues with Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, Out of the Silent Planet begins the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom. Here, that estimable man is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice, and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Once on the planet, however, Ransom eludes his captors, risking his life and his chances of returning to Earth, becoming a stranger in a land that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a mysterious and suspenseful tour de force.

About the Author

C.S. Lewis was a professor of medieval and Renaissance literature at Oxford and Cambridge universities who wrote more than thirty books in his lifetime, including The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Mere Christianity. He died in 1963.

Date of Birth:

November 29, 1898

Date of Death:

November 22, 1963

Place of Birth:

Belfast, Nothern Ireland

Place of Death:

Headington, England

Education:

Oxford University 1917-1923; Elected fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1925

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I

The last drops of the thundershower had hardly ceased falling when the Pedestrian stuffed his map into his pocket, settled his pack more comfortably on his tired shoulders, and stepped out from the shelter of a large chestnut-tree into the middle of the road. A violent yellow sunset was pouring through a rift in the clouds to westward, but straight ahead over the hills the sky was the colour of dark slate. Every tree and blade of grass was dripping, and the road shone like a river. The Pedestrian wasted no time on the landscape but set out at once with the determined stride of a good walker who has lately realised that he will have to walk farther than he intended. That, indeed, was his situation. If he had chosen to look back, which he did not, he could have seen the spire of Much Nadderby, and, seeing it, might have uttered a malediction on the inhospitable little hotel which, though obviously empty, had refused him a bed. The place had changed hands since he last went for a walking-tour in these parts. The kindly old landlord on whom he had reckoned had been replaced by someone whom the barmaid referred to as "the lady," and the lady was apparently a British innkeeper of that orthodox school who regard guests as a nuisance. His only chance now was Sterk, on the far side of the hills, and a good six miles away. The map marked an inn at Sterk. The Pedestrian was too experienced to build any very sanguine hopes on this, but there seemed nothing else within range.

He walked fairly fast, and doggedly, without looking much about him, like a man trying to shorten the way with some interesting train of thought. He was tall, but a little round-shouldered, about thirty-five to forty years of age, and dressed with that particular kind of shabbiness which marks a member of the intelligentsia on a holiday. He might easily have been mistaken for a doctor or a schoolmaster at first sight, though he had not the man-of-the-world air of the one or the indefinable breeziness of the other. In fact, he was a philologist, and fellow of a Cambridge college. His name was Ransom.

He had hoped when he left Nadderby that he might find a night's lodging at some friendly farm before he had walked as far as Sterk. But the land this side of the hills seemed almost uninhabited. It was a desolate, featureless sort of country mainly devoted to cabbage and turnip, with poor hedges and few trees. It attracted no visitors like the richer country south of Nadderby and it was protected by the hills from the industrial areas beyond Sterk. As the evening drew in and the noise of the birds came to an end it grew more silent than an English landscape usually is. The noise of his own feet on the metalled road became irritating.

He had walked thus for a matter of two miles when he became aware of a light ahead. He was close under the hills by now and it was nearly dark, so that he still cherished hopes of a substantial farmhouse until he was quite close to the real origin of the light, which proved to be a very small cottage of ugly nineteenth-century brick. A woman darted out of the open doorway as he approached it and almost collided with him.

"I beg your pardon, sir," she said. "I thought it was my Harry."

Ransom asked her if there was any place nearer than Sterk where he might possibly get a bed.

"No, sir," said the woman. "Not nearer than Sterk. I dare say as they might fix you up at Nadderby."

She spoke in a humbly fretful voice as if her mind were intent on something else. Ransom explained that he had already tried Nadderby.

"Then I don't know, I'm sure, sir," she replied. "There isn't hardly any house before Sterk, not what you want. There's only The Rise, where my Harry works, and I thought you was coming from that way, sir, and that's why I come out when I heard you, thinking it might be him. He ought to be home this long time."

"The Rise," said Ransom. "What's that? A farm? Would they put me up?"

"Oh no, sir. You see there's no one there now except the Professor and the gentleman from London, not since Miss Alice died. They wouldn't do anything like that, sir. They don't even keep any servants, except my Harry for doing the furnace like, and he's not in the house."

"What's this professor's name?" asked Ransom, with a faint hope.

"I don't know, I'm sure, sir," said the woman. "The other gentleman's Mr. Devine, he is, and Harry says the other gentleman is a professor. He don't know much about it, you see, sir, being a little simple, and that's why I don't like him coming home so late, and they said they'd always send him home at six o'clock. It isn't as if he didn't do a good day's work either."

The monotonous voice and the limited range of the woman's vocabulary did not express much emotion, but Ransom was standing sufficiently near to perceive that she was trembling and nearly crying. It occurred to him that he ought to call on the mysterious professor and ask for the boy to be sent home: and it occurred to him just a fraction of a second later that once he were inside the house  among men of his own profession  he might very reasonably accept the offer of a night's hospitality. Whatever the process of thought may have been, he found that the mental picture of himself calling at The Rise had assumed all the solidity of a thing determined upon. He told the woman what he intended to do.

"Thank you very much, sir, I'm sure," she said. "And if you would be so kind as to see him out of the gate and on the road before you leave, if you see what I mean, sir. He's that frightened of the Professor and he wouldn't come away once your back was turned, sir, not if they hadn't sent him home themselves like."

Ransom reassured the woman as well as he could and bade her good-bye, after ascertaining that he would find The Rise on his left in about five minutes. Stiffness had grown upon him while he was standing still, and he proceeded slowly and painfully on his way.

There was no sign of any lights on the left of the road  nothing but the flat fields and a mass of darkness which he took to be a copse. It seemed more than five minutes before he reached it and found that he had been mistaken. It was divided from the road by a good hedge and in the hedge was a white gate: and the trees which rose above him as he examined the gate were not the first line of a copse but only a belt, and the sky showed through them. He felt quite sure now that this must be the gate of The Rise and that these trees surrounded a house and garden. He tried the gate and found it locked. He stood for a moment undecided, discouraged by the silence and the growing darkness. His first inclination, tired as he felt, was to continue his journey to Sterk: but he had committed himself to a troublesome duty on behalf of the old woman. He knew that it would be possible, if one really wanted, to force a way through the hedge. He did not want to. A nice fool he would look, blundering in upon some retired eccentric  the sort of a man who kept his gates locked in the country  with this silly story of a hysterical mother in tears because her idiot boy had been kept half an hour late at his work! Yet it was perfectly clear that he would have to get in, and since one cannot crawl through a hedge with a pack on, he slipped his pack off and flung it over the gate. The moment he had done so, it seemed to him that he had not till now fully made up his mind  now that he must break into the garden if only in order to recover the pack. He became very angry with the woman, and with himself, but he got down on his hands and knees and began to worm his way into the hedge.

The operation proved more difficult than he had expected and it was several minutes before he stood up in the wet darkness on the inner side of the hedge smarting from his contact with thorns and nettles. He groped his way to the gate, picked up his pack, and then for the first time turned to take stock of his surroundings. It was lighter on the drive than it had been under the trees and he had no difficulty in making out a large stone house divided from him by a width of untidy neglected lawn. The drive branched into two a little way ahead of him  the righthand path leading in a gentle sweep to the front door, while the left ran straight ahead, doubtless to the back premises of the house. He noticed that this path was churned up into deep ruts  now full of water  as if it were used to carrying a traffic of heavy lorries. The other, on which he now began to approach the house, was overgrown with moss. The house itself showed no light: some of the windows were shuttered, some gaped blank without shutter or curtain, but all were lifeless and inhospitable. The only sign of occupation was a column of smoke that rose from behind the house with a density which suggested the chimney of a factory, or at least of a laundry, rather than that of a kitchen. The Rise was clearly the last place in the world where a stranger was likely to be asked to stay the night, and Ransom, who had already wasted some time in exploring it, would certainly have turned away if he had not been bound by his unfortunate promise to the old woman.

He mounted the three steps which led into the deep porch, rang the bell, and waited. After a time he rang the bell again and sat down on a wooden bench which ran along one side of the porch. He sat so long that though the night was warm and starlit the sweat began to dry on his face and a faint chilliness crept over his shoulders. He was very tired by now, and it was perhaps this which prevented him from rising and ringing a third time: this, and the soothing stillness of the garden, the beauty of the summer sky, and the occasional hooting of an owl somewhere in the neighbourhood which seemed only to emphasize the underlying tranquillity of his surroundings. Something like drowsiness had already descended upon him when he found himself startled into vigilance. A peculiar noise was going on  a scuffing, irregular noise, vaguely reminiscent of a football scrum. He stood up. The noise was unmistakable by now. People in boots were fighting or wrestling or playing some game. They were shouting too. He could not make out the words but he heard the monosyllabic barking ejaculations of men who are angry and out of breath. The last thing Ransom wanted was an adventure, but a conviction that he ought to investigate the matter was already growing upon him when a much louder cry rang out in which he could distinguish the words, "Let me go. Let me go," and then, a second later, "I'm not going in there. Let me go home."

Throwing off his pack, Ransom sprang down the steps of the porch, and ran round to the back of the house as quickly as his stiff and footsore condition allowed him. The ruts and pools of the muddy path led him to what seemed to be a yard, but a yard surrounded with an unusual number of outhouses. He had a momentary vision of a tall chimney, a low door filled with red firelight, and a huge round shape that rose black against the stars, which he took for the dome of a small observatory: then all this was blotted out of his mind by the figures of three men who were struggling together so close to him that he almost cannoned into them. From the very first Ransom felt no doubt that the central figure, whom the two others seemed to be detaining in spite of his struggles, was the old woman's Harry. He would like to have thundered out, "What are you doing to that boy?" but the words that actually came  in rather an unimpressive voice  were, "Here! I say!..."

The three combatants fell suddenly apart, the boy blubbering. "May I ask," said the thicker and taller of the two men, "who the devil you may be and what you are doing here?" His voice had all the qualities which Ransom's had so regrettably lacked.

"I'm on a walking-tour," said Ransom, "and I promised a poor woman "

"Poor woman be damned," said the other. "How did you get in?"

"Through the hedge," said Ransom, who felt a little ill-temper coming to his assistance. "I don't know what you're doing to that boy, but "

"We ought to have a dog in this place," said the thick man to his companion, ignoring Ransom.

"You mean we should have a dog if you hadn't insisted on using Tartar for an experiment," said the man who had not yet spoken. He was nearly as tall as the other, but slender, and apparently the younger of the two, and his voice sounded vaguely familiar to Ransom.

The latter made a fresh beginning. "Look here," he said. "I don't know what you are doing to that boy, but it's long after hours and it is high time you sent him home. I haven't the least wish to interfere in your private affairs, but "

"Who are you?" bawled the thick man.

"My name is Ransom, if that is what you mean. And "

"By Jove," said the slender man, "not Ransom who used to be at Wedenshaw?"

"I was at school at Wedenshaw," said Ransom.

"I thought I knew you as soon as you spoke," said the slender man. "I'm Devine. Don't you remember me?"

"Of course. I should think I do!" said Ransom as the two men shook hands with the rather laboured cordiality which is traditional in such meetings. In actual fact Ransom had disliked Devine at school as much as anyone he could remember.

"Touching, isn't it?" said Devine. "The far-flung line even in the wilds of Sterk and Nadderby. This is where we get a lump in our throats and remember Sunday-evening Chapel in the D.O.P. You don't know Weston, perhaps?" Devine indicated his massive and loud-voiced companion. "The Weston," he added. "You know. The great physicist. Has Einstein on toast and drinks a pint of Schrödinger's blood for breakfast. Weston, allow me to introduce my old schoolfellow, Ransom. Dr. Elwin Ransom. The Ransom, you know. The great philologist. Has Jespersen on toast and drinks a pint "

"I know nothing about it," said Weston, who was still holding the unfortunate Harry by the collar. "And if you expect me to say that I am pleased to see this person who has just broken into my garden, you will be disappointed. I don't care two-pence what school he was at nor on what unscientific foolery he is at present wasting money that ought to go to research. I want to know what he's doing here: and after that I want to see the last of him."

"Don't be an ass, Weston," said Devine in a more serious voice. "His dropping in is delightfully apropos. You mustn't mind Weston's little way, Ransom. Conceals a generous heart beneath a grim exterior, you know. You'll come in and have a drink and something to eat of course?"

"That's very kind of you," said Ransom. "But about the boy "

Devine drew Ransom aside. "Balmy," he said in a low voice. "Works like a beaver as a rule but gets these fits. We are only trying to get him into the wash-house and keep him quiet for an hour or so till he's normal again. Can't let him go home in his present state. All done by kindness. You can take him home yourself presently if you like  and come back and sleep here."

Ransom was very much perplexed. There was something about the whole scene suspicious enough and disagreeable enough to convince him the he had blundered on something criminal, while on the other hand he had all the deep, irrational conviction of his age and class that such things could never cross the path of an ordinary person except in fiction and could least of all be associated with professors and old schoolfellows. Even if they had been ill-treating the boy, Ransom did not see much chance of getting him from them by force.

While these thoughts were passing through his head, Devine had been speaking to Weston, in a low voice, but no lower than was to be expected of a man discussing hospitable arrangements in the presence of a guest. It ended with a grunt of assent from Weston. Ransom, to whose other difficulties a merely social embarrassment was now being added, turned with the idea of making some remark. But Weston was now speaking to the boy.

"You have given enough trouble for one night, Harry," he said. "And in a properly governed country I'd know how to deal with you. Hold your tongue and stop snivelling. You needn't go into the wash-house if you don't want "

"It weren't the wash-house," sobbed the half-wit, "you know it weren't. I don't want to go in that thing again."

"He means the laboratory," interrupted Devine. "He got in there and was shut in by accident for a few hours once. It put the wind up him for some reason. Lo, the poor Indian, you know." He turned to the boy. "Listen, Harry," he said. "That kind gentleman is going to take you home as soon as he's had a rest. If you'll come in and sit down quietly in the hall I'll give you something you like." He imitated the noise of a cork being drawn from a bottle  Ransom remembered it had been one of Devine's tricks at school  and a guffaw of infantile knowingness broke from Harry's lips.

"Bring him in," said Weston as he turned away and disappeared into the house. Ransom hesitated to follow, but Devine assured him that Weston would be very glad to see him. The lie was barefaced, but Ransom's desire for a rest and a drink were rapidly overcoming his social scruples. Preceded by Devine and Harry, he entered the house and found himself a moment later seated in an arm-chair and awaiting the return of Devine, who had gone to fetch refreshments.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I am a devoted fan of Lewis and also a bit of scifi lover, so I was so excited the first time I heard of these books. Like his "Chronicles of Narnia" books, Lewis draws out a Bible-based story and idea in this space-travel plot, but unlike that series, these are written for an adult audience with more than just a friendly comparison to Christ or the Christian walk. These draw on much more profound questions in a person's belief and faith. I found this books thought provoking and totally interesting. Because of this, however, the story was a little dense and it took me longer than usual to read this small book. Even so, I loved it and I would recommend it to any fan of his.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

In C.S. Lewis¿s science fiction classic, Out of the Silent Planet, we follow the journey of Dr. Elwin Ransom, a Christian philologist. With incredible wit and imagery, Lewis imprints a captivating story upon our mind. During a pleasure walk, Ransom inadvertently falls into some deep entanglements, is kidnapped, and transported to another planet. Here he finds a fantastic world, of pink and purple and green plants, warm blue rivers and lakes, chill air, and narrow green mountains that nearly pierce the planet¿s atmosphere. Furry, intelligent creatures dwell there, and angels walk the planet regularly. Throughout his stay on this planet, Ransom sees the evil effects of greed and humanism, and finds the Creator¿s handiwork in other parts of the universe. This is more than just a fantasy story. It is a journey into the realms of the soul, the spirit, the heart, and the mind -- one that will leave you exhilarated an encouraged. ---Ryan Robledo Author of the Aelnathan

Guest

More than 1 year ago

If you like science-fiction novels, you won't be able to stop reading this unpredictable story. A suspenseful space tale about one man's thrilling adventures on Malacandra (Mars). It has great characters, a captivating plot, and flawless description of the Malacandrian landscape. I recommend this novel because of its original and exciting storyline.

JeanFairclough

More than 1 year ago

C. S. Lewis as far as I know was the first writer to create beautiful environments in science fiction writing. So much of today's science fiction is set in dark, foreboding places and oddly (in my opinion) includes medieval weaponry and warfare in futuristic ugly places. C. S. Lewis creates environments that would be fun to travel through in a videogame -- rolling hills that actually roll along taking you somewhere, thinking of wanting a cool mist on a hot day causes it to happen, catching giant fish to ride them somewhere. Friendly, beautiful creatures with whom to converse. I wrote somewhat about the trilogy in my review of Perelandra, so won't repeat it here, except to say I enjoyed it when I was 15 years old and in even wider ways recently at the age of 68. The narrator Geoffrey Howard is very good -- this is, if you have not yet discovered, very, very important to an audiobook. I really like the main character of this book. I really like the way C. S. Lewis inspires me to philosophize and analyze and in plain language, inspires me to think beyond the mundane.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

To enjoy this book, remember that it was written in the late 1930s in England--it will not read like a 21st century American novel. Some familiarity with Platonic philosophy and medieval cosmology will help as well. Thus equipped, you will soon find that this book is a whole lot more than the 1930's pulp fiction that it pretends to be. In this book Lewis challenges our notions of self-identity, the primacy of the human race, and the supremacy of scientific materialism and technology over spirituality and the arts. In this brief work is much wisdom that is applicable to the current clash between modernism and post-modernism. Pay close attention to the epilogue, where clues are given to the true intentions of the author.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Read this many years ago, and was pleased to find tje ebook and that I still enjoyed it. It is harder now to get by the hilarious impossibilities that we realize make impossible Lewis' vision of life on Mars or Venus, but this is something you have to work through to appreciate any older sci fi.
It is well worth this minor mental discomfort to enjoy the outstanding quality of his prose.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Really made me think as I was reading it.Then when finished couldn't wait to start the second of the series.

lunaprecipita

More than 1 year ago

The entire trilogy was not what I expected from C.S. Lewis. However, all three books are entertaining and interesting in their own right as science fiction. At the same time they are an allegory of the Christian journey. They are all fast -paced and quick reads.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Lewis books never fail to pull the reader into the adventure and I was pleased to find the same with Out of the Silent Planet. Out of this world characters, devious villans, humble hero and help found in the most unlikely places. Great book for group reading and discussion.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

These books are some of the greatest liturature ever to be written. PLEASE finish the sieres. Other sci-fi is impossible to believe, but sometimes I wonder if Lewis is not just retelling a real life experience.

bitterblackale

More than 1 year ago

Exactly what out-of-this-world sci-fi ought to be: a great adventure that also gives readers a look at humanity from the eyes of aliens with a lot of classic sci-fi elements from the likes of Verne, Wells, and Conan Doyle, and it is one that very much belongs on the same shelf as those great ones! It's also a good supposition story for those who believe in a god to consider the extra-terrestrial implications of an eternal supreme being.

ragwaine on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

Kind of boring until the end. I liked the philosophy and the set up that every planet has it's own god and then there's an overall god.

djaquay on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

Utterly wonderful, lightly touching on things of a spiritual nature (lightly, that is, compared to, say, Lewis's Narnia books). Even more surprising, for me, considering that it was written in the 1930's. I'll be proceeding on to the other two in the trilogy directly.

deanc on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

A different sort of a book for Lewis, if one's primary reference is his classic works of practical theology. One of his earliest books published (1938), the story was, as he states in the preface, inspired by the work of H.G. Wells (and I suspect others--like his good friend Tolkien, who had published the Hobbitt just the year before). It is a commendable foray into the world of sci-fi covered by a thin veneer of theological musings. If intelligent life does exist on other planets, then maybe somewhere they've gotten a better handle on how God intends for them to co-exist than we have here on earth. However, even if life exists only here, there is certainly more to reality than meets the eye. We are not alone--there is a whole world of almost visible reality around us, if we but open our spiritual eyes to see. The characters are interesting, the events and dialogue are plausible (considering the genre), and the writing is excellent, as one would expect of Lewis. At 158 pages it's a quick read and a good introduction to the celebrated Space Trilogy.

bonbooko on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

Really refreshing and entertaining. Clear english writing. I listened to the trilogy in audiobook format, and that was really effective.

janoorani24 on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

A really delightful early science fiction book. One of the things I loved was the way Lewis explains Mars' surface features using what little was known about the surface in 1938. His descriptions of space travel and arrival on an alien planet are quaint and improbable, but he seems to have tried to base his writing on scientific fact as he perceived it then. I really enjoyed the book and will try to find the other two in the trilogy to read.

the_awesome_opossum on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

Out of the Silent Planet is an early example of science fiction. The protagonist, Ransom, is kidnapped and sent into space, eventually arriving at a planet called Malacandra (he finds out later that it's our Mars). A lot of it is simply an exploration of the landscape and its species - hopefully the other books in the trilogy will be less tiresome in that regard, now that we've had our introduction - but there are some good bits of religion and morality at the end. It turns out that the people of Malacandra think of Earth as the "silent planet," literally godforsaken, compared to their own society where their god interacts with them. Which is interesting, and hopefully will make for a good jumping-off point for the rest of the trilogy

dreamingtereza on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

While That Hideous Strength appeals to my lifelong love of Arthurian legend and Perelandra is unquestionably the strongest of the trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet remains my sentimental favorite. Lewis's vivid descriptions are simply breathtaking, and the lengthy dialogue between the Oyarsa and the silly, evil humans on trial for murder is rather thought-provoking. Besides, "pfifltriggi" is absolutely one of the most fun words ever created.

mustreaditall on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

This is the only Lewis I've read aside from the Narnia series. Being as I was raised dirty heathen, I didn't pick up on the Christian aspects of his writing until later, and that still isn't the first thing that springs into view when I read him. Just so you know.I think my favorite parts of this one are the descriptions of Ransom lying in the spaceship, watching space go by. For someone who'd not only obviously never been to space, but didn't even have any descriptions from others who had, Lewis paints a detailed and engrossing picture of the teeming heavens. The whole book is obviously influenced by HG Wells' First Men in the Moon, but not enough to keep it from being very much its own novel.Now, don't get me wrong - there's a fairly simplistic "man is often evil due to the presence of Satan/bent Oyarsa on Earth, but the peoples of Mars are good, kind, and wise because they have true angels/true contact with God" theme running through the novel. Being as it's Lewis, I guess that's par for the course, and it didn't keep me from enjoying the story itself. I was intrigued by the idea of the various Martian races seeing each other as both human and animal (and thereby not needing pets in the way that Earthlings seem to, as a connection to the animal world within our own culture). I suspect that some folks right here see other races/nationalities the same way, and not in the respectful way Lewis lays on his creations.You know, I think this book (or the whole series - I haven't got far enough into it to know) helped inspired L'Engle when she wrote A Wrinkle in Time. Ransom's discussions with the different races is echoed in some of the childrens' encounters as they travel outward from Earth. Plus, there's the image of our planet being shrouded or silent - set apart from the rest of creation.final thought: It really all comes down to whether your believe that "Our right to supersede you is the right of the higher over the lower." I don't, and I enjoy the case made by Lewis on the matter as much as I enjoy his descriptions of the petrified Martian forests and the bright, warm stretches of space.

MusicMom41 on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

This is the first book in Lewis¿ ¿Space Trilogy¿ (so called even though the 3rd book takes place entirely on earth). The hero of the series, Ransom, is kidnapped and taken to another planet where his captors plan to offer him as a sacrifice to the beings on that planet in order to gain their favor so that they can exploit the riches of this new world. This example of early science fiction is fascinating¿Lewis was much less interested in the science part than the ¿fantasy¿¿would make this book interesting in any event. However, as is usual with Lewis, the story has much more to say about the state of humanity than with the aspects of science he exploits to carry the story. It¿s interesting that both Ransom and his captors fail to understand the inhabitants of this alien planet.

Venqat65 on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

I love this book. I have read it many, many times and the part that really stands out in my memory is when one of the creatures from Malacandra explains to the protagonist that it is not normal (it is bent) to wish to relive a period of time over and over again. Each part of a lifetime is a wonderful and unique thing and we should enjoy every second and not long to relive what is past.

Sean191 on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

I read the Narnia series in 4th grade and again in my mid 20s before I gave them all to my nephew. I've read some of Lewis' more "adult" works, [The Screwtape Letters] and more recently, [The Great Divorce]. This book (and I'm guessing the trilogy) seems to be a bridge between those works. Unfortunately, it didn't hold my imagination the way Narnia did. I felt it concentrated more on landscape than on characters and in the case of the main character, I didn't feel he was believable. The depth found in his other books also wasn't there. I'm still going to give the others in the trilogy a chance at some point since I've enjoyed Lewis' work up to this point, but I'm in no rush to do so.

macii on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

I did it! I finally conquered reading this book!!! This was my third attempt and I was able to complete it. My first two times the book seemed a bit long, descriptive and "heady," but this time the tale kept pulling me forward. Two types of my recent literary readings caused me to be more appreciative of the story. First, my fairly new (within the past two years) enjoyment of Star Wars books, where you explore different planets and lands. Secondly, I've deemed this summer as the "Summer of Lewis" where I've been reading C.S. Lewis' works like mad! I've grown familiar with his writing style and some of his reoccurring themes. Every time I read Lewis I feel as though my brain must be growing in some capacity or another."Out of the Silent Planet" is the first of Lewis' Space Trilogy. Dr. Ransom is taken captive on a space ship and where they eventually land on the planet of Malacandra. It is a planet it our own solar system, but you need to read the book to discover which one. He escapes from his captors and journeys to discover the planet.Conversation is a large part of the story and through Ransom's encounters with the species of a different world Lewis puts forward theological ideas. He is able to discuss sin, death, eternity, full life (not mortal life), love that becomes twisted to sit as a god--to name a few.I loved this book and am looking forward to the next in the trilogy (but I don't know when I might take it up). For those unfamiliar with Lewis, I'd suggest reading a few of his essays (The book "Mere Christianity" is a great place to start) and his book (its short and an easy read) "The Great Divorce." I would also advise you to skim over some biographical information, but I do not know that this is a necessity, just interesting.

trinityM82 on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

Very good, though his musings on the connectivedness of the world are interesting - you can tell that he is Christian, but he's trying to fuse science with Christianity in a time really when there wasn't even a whole lot of resentment between the two. His narration is strange - every once in a while the "I" narrator breaks in, breaking the flow of the story so he seems godlike, but at times not seemingly very important to the overall cohesiveness of the story. at the end we find out Ransom is telling all this to a buddy after finding the word Oyarsa in ancient texts so it all comes out as there is basis, and the last few pages seem like a justificaiton for the entire tale - that it is indeed true and why it was at first presented as fiction.

Zathras86 on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

One of the more powerful aspects of science fiction is its ability to take humanity out of context and thereby show things we take for granted in a different light. In Out of the Silent Planet Lewis unmasks the ideas of Social Darwinism and Manifest Destiny for the absurdities they are. Lewis is a master at world-building, as anyone who has read the more popular Narnia series can attest. The world of Malecandra is extremely well-crafted and it's easy to lose yourself in Ransom's slow journey to understanding of its inhabitants. I really enjoy Lewis's writing style and the subtle thread of joyful spirituality that lies beneath it. There is a good deal of theology woven into this story but it's not heavy-handed, and you won't enjoy it any less if you don't notice or don't believe in it. (After all, how many of you read and loved The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as kids without noticing the rather obvious theological parallels? I know I did.)Something I particularly liked was that Lewis does not pit spirituality against science itself, but against science used indiscriminately to serve greed and violence. This is a distinction that many Christians in this day and age have failed to grasp.I'm hoping the second and third parts of the trilogy turn out to be as good as this one.

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